We all know that Microsoft, and its partners are going to be pushing Windows 8 heavily for tablets. The Windows 8 tablets we've seen so far have some interesting features, but are also saddled with expensive prices. Bob O'Donnell, an analyst from the research firm IDC, thinks that Windows 8 tablets are simply too expensive.

O'Donnell doesn't believe the traditional PC pricing on Windows 8 tablets bodes well for the new hybrid devices. The Windows 8 tablets we've seen so far from Acer and Lenovo that are able to convert between tablet and laptop use come in at a price between $499 and $1099 depending on options.

Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga 13 starts at $1,099

"The problem is these things are priced way too high. Look at the history of tablet products priced above the iPad. Not pretty," O'Donnell told CNET.

Computer manufacturers are hoping that consumers will see the value in Windows 8 tablets that are promising better productivity thanks to keyboards and the Windows operating system that tablets such as the iPad can't offer.

The analyst believes that the Microsoft Surface tablet won't undercut the pricing of Apple’s iPad. O'Donnell says that he expects the RT version of the Surface tablet to sell for $599 and the Intel-powered version to sell for $999.

I am prepared to pay more than for competing "tablets" that only run phone-grade apps in order to get a real computer. And I think a lot of people are too.

Granted, IVB tablets are not for everyone. A big majority only want to run a webbrowser and a video player. But there are also those of us that would appreciate being able to run any windows game too, or running a drawing or image processing app with a real wacom pressure-sensitive pen, or cad/cam software and so on.

And even between those that just want to use a browser and a video player, there are people willing to pay for a screen resolution that will fit a website unscaled in portrait orientation, or fit a fullhd video.

Just like in laptops there is a range of prices from under $500 to $5000, you can expect there to be various specced tablets at various prices.

Yes, the lower-end devices with unusable resolution, Atom or especially ARM CPUs and lacking an active digitizer should really be much cheaper than they are announced now. Not that I'd want to buy one even if they were, I want a real computer. But that's probably where the big sales volume is going to be.

In the higher end of the spectrum, the prices are more reasonable. I think that the expected $1100 price point for the Ativ Pro (and Surface Pro, if it weren't being delayed 3 months for no good reason) is a good price, especially if it includes the dock. Similar specced convertibles were upwards of $2000 a generation ago, and I was even willing to pay it for a T901 with dedicated graphics... turned out Fujitsu didn't want to sell that outside of USA. I also payed $1100 a year before that for a tm2 with a really terrible screen. So I expect the Ativ Pro will be quite a big success among people that actually want a computer as opposed to an oversized phone.

Hell, even today's convertible prices aren't much lower. Thank God Lenovo came to its senses and lowered their x230t... But Fujitsu is still pricing its T902 at the same 2k. Probably just to make the bunch of outdated last-gen hardware it also sells, or maybe the Q702, seem more appealing... That Q702 btw is pretty much what the Surface or Ativ Pro are gonna be, just with Windows 7 (but you get 8 free when it launches if you buy a pc with 7 now anyway) and a crappier resolution. And its price ranges quite wildly, from 1k without dock to 1.7khttp://www.shopfujitsu.com/store/product-compariso...You can see why I am excited by the Ativ Pro now, I guess.